The photo of Buzz Aldrin on the Moon is surrounded by conspiracy theories, with many internet users firmly believing that the photo was artificially fabricated.
Alongside Neil Armstrong, Aldrin was the subject of some of the most iconic photos taken on the Earth’s natural satellite during the duo’s visit to the celestial body on July 20, 1969.
But now, Michael Ranger, a man who calls himself a “digital archaeologist” on Reddit, has made an effort to uncover more details in these NASA images.
In one of the most famous photos of Aldrin, taken by Armstrong, you can see the commander and the planet Earth reflected in his helmet. Ranger then managed to sharpen what was on the visor and turn it into a 360° panoramic image.
“Space suit visors are coated with gold, so I corrected the golden color by using the entire photo as a color reference for real-world colors,” Ranger told PetaPixel.
“I also added more space to the initial crop of the photo around the edges of the visor so that when it was unwrapped, it would more accurately account for the space in the final 360° image representing the inside of the helmet.”
Ranger also pointed out the “pale blue dot” in the image, which is our planet, something that was hard to see in the original photo. He even managed to turn the scene into a 360° “POV” video, which amazed internet users.
“This is really amazing. A super unique idea that I don’t think I’ve ever seen before. I bet you could do this with several Apollo photos!”, analyzed one user. “You just made it possible for people to live the moment. Thank you!”, said another.
Photo and video: Michael Ranger. This content was created with the help of AI and reviewed by the editorial team.
